


Here's to the Class of 2020

by orphan_account



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - 2020, But Yamaguchi knows this, COVID, Confessions, Getting Together, Going to college, Goodbyes, M/M, Quarantine, Third Year Tsukishima Kei, Third Year Yamaguchi Tadashi, Tsukishima Kei is Bad at Feelings, and he loves it, bittersweet and fluffy, but you get the drift, technically graduated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 18:54:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25720162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It's the last day before Yamaguchi leaves for college. Turns out, saying goodbye is a lot harder from six feet away.
Relationships: Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 50





	Here's to the Class of 2020

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! If you're reading this, I hope you're safe and healthy!
> 
> I wrote this in a bit of a flustered state – I'm currently packing for college myself so emotions are high, haha. 
> 
> This is 100% definitely not at all in any way the inner monologues of a sad gay teen who really wants to hug his friends right now. Not at all, don't be ridiculous.
> 
> Anyway, thank you for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy!

“Isn't it weird?” Yamaguchi wondered aloud, hands stuffed in his jacket pockets. “It’ll be the first time we’re not at school together.”

Kei nodded, barely listening. He was trying to soak up the scene, memorize every last detail. The sunset was singing its swan song on a cool April evening. The asphalt blazed a glorious orange beneath his shoes.

Yamaguchi had insisted they spend one last day together before he left for university, and that day had finally arrived. They met in the afternoon with no particular plan in mind. Just existing in each other's company was contenting enough. On their way back home, Yamaguchi elected to walk ahead of Kei, a tightrope artist balanced atop the guardrail.

His hair was the shortest Kei had ever seen it. Evidently it was a homemade cut – not terrible, but still odd after ten years of watching it flop around his ears, which were now exposed and reddened from the cold.

The breeze blew sideways and Yamaguchi stuck his arms out in a cross, letting it whistle through his sleeves and up under his shirt. He shivered, then glanced over his shoulder at Kei, his face aglow with delight.

Even six feet away, he was dazzling.

Behind that piece of cloth, Kei knew Yamaguchi was smiling. He knew there was a smattering of freckles that the fading sunset could light up like fireflies. They would pop against his skin – always just a few shades darker than Kei’s.

Yamaguchi swayed and Kei instinctively reached out.

“Ah! Six feet,” Yamaguchi said, shaking his finger. “If I get COVID, I can’t go to university, silly.” He hopped off the guardrail, landing somewhat clumsily but looking proud all the same.

“I wish you’d taken a gap year,” Kei muttered. Yamaguchi frowned, posture drooping slightly.

“We’ve already talked about this. My scholarship only applies if I go this year.”

“I know.”

“So why bring it up?”

Kei shrugged and removed his glasses. He wiped them against his shirt. With a mask on it was nearly impossible to stop the lenses from fogging up every few seconds. It was annoying, but he wasn’t about to pull it down under his nose and expose Yamaguchi. They’d both been sheltering in place, but like usual, Kei didn’t trust himself. More-so, he didn’t trust the people at the grocery store who stood way too close and sneezed into the open air. To be as sure as possible, Kei spent an entire month holed up in his room, refusing to leave lest he have to cancel his plans with Yamaguchi.

“Remember what we said we’d do after graduation?”

A twinge of irritation poked at Kei’s stomach. Of all the sore spots to jab... He gave a curt nod, sure his silence would say enough.

“It makes me regret being such a nerd!”

 _Poke, poke, poke._ “How so?”

“Hmmm,” Yamaguchi started to walk backward, his gaze set high in the clouds. “All the times I said, ‘Oh, I’ll do that next year,’ or ‘after Nationals,’ or decided to skip a team event.” He sighed. "We both piled so much onto these few weeks. That was a pretty bad plan, now that I think about it.”

Kei had no idea why Yamaguchi was saying all this, and why now, of all times. This was their last day together, and Yamaguchi decided to waste it on a guilt trip. If they were listing regrets, Kei could probably talk for the whole night. But that seemed like a stupid and useless plan. His hands twitched at his sides. He shoved them into his jeans, hoping Yamaguchi wouldn’t notice.

He was desperate to keep his composure, not to ruin their day. That was proving to be difficult, considering that his nerves were frayed, his _stupid_ glasses kept fogging up, and the mask was so hot and sweaty it felt like he was breathing soup. Unfair, considering it was cold enough to require a jacket.

“Our last day in club seems so long ago, doesn’t it?” Yamaguchi rambled on.

“It was.”

“Yeah, but it’s different.”

“Naturally.”

“Don’t you wish you could go back?”

“Not really.”

Yamaguchi's brows pinched together. “Why are you being so short with me?”

“Because!” Kei snapped. _What an intelligent response_. He struggled to untangle his knot of defenses, all jumbled and mixed-up after weeks of nonuse. Frustration rose like bile in his throat, sour and bitter and suddenly, he was grateful for the mask – Yamaguchi couldn't see his chin trembling as he spoke. “Of course I regret everything. Do you think I don’t? That I’m really that awful?”

There wasn't an immediate reply. Yamaguchi just stood and observed Kei – expression wavering between concern and hurt. He pinched his jacket zipper to occupy his anxious fingers.

“Sorry, Tsukki.”

“It’s fine.” _You shouldn’t even be apologizing,_ he wanted to say. His lips stayed shut.

Yamaguchi offered him a thumbs up before he turned and clambered back onto the guardrail. One foot in front of the other, he plodded over posts and dents, tongue peeking out between his teeth as he concentrated.

Those six feet hung like a noose around Kei’s neck. He scrabbled at the rope, fibers rubbing micro-tears through his skin. If he tried to loosen it, he’d surely fall. If he left it tight, he would slowly suffocate.

__

Their last day together. Kei had run through this moment so many times in his head – a recurring daydream since he was eight. But goodbye wasn’t a dream. It was a bullet fired from an invisible gun. By the time he noticed it, the bullet had already ripped right through their third year.

Goodbye to Yachi, who had come into his life far too late. They really could have been good friends. She reminded him of Yamaguchi in many ways. If he had given her the chance, who knows what they could have been? Goodbye was a letter written in cute, looped handwriting, now tacked to a bulletin board above his desk.

Goodbye to Hinata. After three years, they had a silent understanding of friendship. The last meeting of the year was in February. Nationals were over. There were first years he hardly knew and second years he thought could carry the club. He was tired from an exam and wanted nothing more than his bed and a pile of blankets. Hinata had come in for a hug. He’d refused, taking his leave. Goodbye had been a walk home and a wave.

Goodbye to Kageyama. He was dedicated to a fault, but he had earned Kei’s respect. They shared a brief moment of kinship after their final club meeting – Kei making a snide comment that elicited a snort from Kageyama. The four third-year boys left the gym together. Goodbye was an eye roll and a last ‘King!’ sneered after his ex-setter as he disappeared behind an apartment door.

No one knew it was their last walk home.

The email woke them all up – five in the morning. Yamaguchi messaged him within the minute. Kei didn’t believe it, or maybe he just didn't want to. 

_From: Yamaguchi_

_Subject: school’s canceled???_

_did you get the email???_

_To: Yamaguchi_

_Subject: re: school’s canceled???_

_It's fine. Everyone is overreacting. We'll be back in a few weeks._

An extended break, that's all it would be. He was even a little happy about the extra weeks off – it was a necessary reprieve from exams and tournaments.

March was going to be he and Yamaguchi’s coming-of-age movie. Two best friends. A few weeks spent traveling before university. The reservations were made. Kei had a packing list on his wall with almost everything checked off.

The list was crumpled in his trash now.

His dorm-supply list laid beside it – after all, he wasn’t going anywhere. The next year would be spent in his room, waking up and waiting until he could go back to sleep. Akiteru would be living at home for the first time in years. Everything would be the same as it was ten years ago, minus one crucial detail.

Yamaguchi was packed and ready to leave. Public transportation was closed. He’d be traveling six hours by car, dozing off in the backseat while his father drove. Kei would wait for a message letting him know they got there safely. He would be jealous that Yamaguchi was moving on without him. He would mourn the year they spent apart.

__

“I’m really going to miss you, Tsukki.”

The noose jerked up and Kei gagged. He was claustrophobic. The mask was too tight. Six feet was too far. He was losing his best friend in less than ten hours and he couldn’t _hug_ him.

He cursed himself for being so closed off. He hated that he never called Hinata “friend” out loud. He hated that Kageyama truly believed they were adversaries. He hated that all he could do was stand and stare at Yamaguchi. He hated that he had been with him for more years than without.

Unfinished business. Perhaps the most painful piece of non-closure was the wound he had been nursing since he met Yamaguchi. Ten years ago, when a freckled boy was bowing and thanking him for something he didn't even remember doing. Back then, when a flustered voice and a bumbling, run-on sentence sliced open a feeling he didn’t understand until recently.

He planned to tell him at graduation. After the ceremony ended and the venue cleared, the two of them could be alone. There would be a confession – a short one because otherwise Kei would stumble over his words and chicken out. If he calculated everything correctly, Yamaguchi would accept it. Beyond that, of course, there were fantasies, but he left those up to fate.

Bad choice. Fate had different plans entirely.

The sky shifted, pink and orange settled low on the horizon, indigo hues seeping between the remaining rays. Kei swallowed the silence, letting the emptiness of the air swirl in his stomach. In windows all around them, silhouettes of families and neighbors shifted behind backlit curtains. 

Time was slipping past him. Every slap of rubber soles on concrete, every sigh, and every single glimpse of that too-short brown hair would be a memory.

People changed in college. Yamaguchi could make new friends, meet new people, and realize that he deserved so much better than Kei. Kei would be at home, the same person he had always been.

A relationship could end as suddenly as it began. Ten years could melt into a puddle of wax, poured and stamped to a letter with no forwarding address.

Behind his back, bony fingers twisted and pulled at one another.

“Tadashi,” he called. Yamaguchi stopped, turning around to face Kei once more. His eyes shone an afterglow of the candlelit sun. 

“Hm?”

“I need to tell you something.”

“Okay.”

All along the sidewalk, street-lamps flickered to life. Their dim bulbs tinted the concrete pale yellow. Navy filled in the gaps between posts. The two of them were bathed in a spotlight, center stage.

Kei steeled himself. He knew it was mutual. He _knew_ and yet his teeth chattered and fingers plucked each other like guitar strings.

“I wanted this to be private,” he started again, tone forced flat. Yamaguchi startled when another streetlamp buzzed to life behind him. He rubbed the back of his neck, sheepish and sweet, like always. Kei ran his tongue over his teeth before continuing. “But I don’t really get a choice.”

He took a deep breath. This was the one chance he had. A million rehearsals and a million second-guesses and now, he was opening his mouth.

“I love you.”

The sentence came out in a single exhale – short and clean. The initial relief faded as Kei waited for a response; the noiseless seconds pooled in his lungs. His chest ached for oxygen, his fingers tingled and stung as he gave them a splitting tug. His shallow breaths turned his lenses opaque. Desperate to occupy the silence, he plucked his glasses from his face and smeared away the fog with his sleeve.

“Wow, you beat me to it.”

The voice came from much closer than Kei had expected. He jolted, looking up and squinting at the impressionist blur around him. All he made out was a smattering of beige and brown and two brushstrokes that swept past his ears. But he knew Yamaguchi by his shuffling footsteps. He recognized the quick puffs of air that he blew when he was nervous.

He felt the right strap of his mask lift. Cool air caressed his skin, drying the dampness left by sweat and hot breath. Calloused fingertips brushed across his jaw.

Yamaguchi was warm to the touch. “I always thought I’d be the one telling you,” he admitted through a laugh. His warm breaths washed over Kei’s mouth. They filled his lungs, coated his throat. His bottom lip grazed Yamaguchi’s and Kei's knees nearly buckled. 

Broiling guts and sweat and an indescribable high. Was this what he had imagined? The question still lingered in his mind when Yamaguchi pressed his lips into Kei's. It was wet and chapped from the wind, but he never wanted to let go. Kei melted down into the kiss, Yamaguchi's grin ever-present as he drew Kei's lips between his own.

When Yamaguchi tilted his head back, Kei found himself following, hanging onto the sensation for as long as he could.

“You’re a dork,” Yamaguchi chuckled. He traced a hand down Kei's arm, stopping at the fist balled tightly around his glasses. Yamaguchi uncurled each finger and slipped the frames from his grasp. With care, he replaced them over Kei's nose. He blinked Yamaguchi into focus, time slowing to a halt as he processed the previous events.

“Six, uh… Mask,” Kei panted. _Six feet. My mask,_ he thought, but his tongue was tied up in Yamaguchi’s taste of jasmine and honey.

Yamaguchi’s cheeks puffed as he smiled. He scooped Kei’s hands into his own, his palms like live wire – electric.

“You’re the only non-family member I’ve seen in over a month, Tsukki.”

Kei nodded, still staring at their hands in disbelief.

“And I'm the only one you've seen.”

Nod.

"So, can we keep going?"

 _Please,_ his mind responded. He cleared his throat. "If you want to."

"Okay, Tsukki."

Yamaguchi draped his arms around Kei’s neck, his eyes crinkled with glee. Kei hesitated, then placed his hands on Yamaguchi’s hips, bringing him closer. The added pressure against his torso sent vibrations up and down his body. The thrill of it all saturated his thoughts. He was drunk on Yamaguchi's touch, dizzy from the fingers dancing through his hair.

Yamaguchi's tongue flitted a quick circle over his top lip, pulling Kei’s gaze. All the years of control and coordination seemed to drain from his mind. He met him halfway, eager and clumsy, the kiss landing only marginally in the right area. Yamaguchi adjusted for him. Once, his teeth caught on Yamaguchi's lips, eliciting a sharp gasp from the recipient. Alarmed, Kei tried to withdraw, but the hand on his neck kept them together. Yamaguchi allowed himself a snigger before giving Kei a nip in return. 

Every motion was experimental, curious. He played with angles and touch and gauged their efficacy from Yamaguchi's many muffled noises. The night was still as they sunk deeper and deeper into each other.

Eventually, the pace slowed, the two of them coming up more and more often to take deep gulps of cool air.

“Ten years,” Kei said, his hands wandering absently over Yamaguchi’s back. Even with the jacket in the way, he could trace the dip in his spine, round his thumb over every knob.

“I know.”

“I should have said something sooner.”

Yamaguchi shook his head. They were still so close that his nose bumped against Kei’s. “I don’t think so. I don’t think we would have been ready. Now is perfect, don’t you think?”

“You’re about to leave.”

“And now I’ll have more reason to come back.”

A strangled groan broke from his throat. Kei slumped forward and grabbed fistfuls of Yamaguchi’s jacket, burying his face into his shoulder. He squeezed harder, tighter, so tight that his muscles became acidic. Yamaguchi let him, giving him a reassuring pat on the back. Kei felt rather petulant, but he was willing to be immature if it meant he could stay glued to Yamaguchi a little longer.

“Why are you so good to me?” Kei asked, finally relaxing his grip. Yamaguchi cocked his head, then snickered as though Kei had made a particularly biting remark. He took Kei’s hands and placed them over his cheeks. He guided them over the creases and dimples that sprouted from pure joy. He mouthed, “I love you,” Kei seeing the phrase rather than hearing it – his mind was full of static at the moment – then leaned forward, letting his forehead knock into Kei’s. Large hands cupped under Yamaguchi’s smaller ones, Kei had never felt so safe.

“This is just for us,” Yamaguchi said, hushed in the quiet night. “This moment – it’s ours.”

Kei drew in another jasmine breath as he nodded. Yamaguchi removed his hands, then pressed a kiss to each of Kei’s long, pale fingers. Kei watched, his heart swollen, filled to the brim with adoration for the person standing in front of him. His hair was shorter, his freckles were paler, but he was the same boy that watched him grow up. They had shared their whole lives. Distance, six feet or greater, was no match for them.

The air was kinder, welcoming the two of them into its embrace. It sheltered them in a private moment. Strangers would pass by and see nothing more than the ghosts of a city falling asleep. Love beat hard in Kei's chest, violent and raw. In the body flush to his own, there was a similar drum, mallets striking in time with Kei's.

And Kei had never been so grateful for all of his mistakes. They had led to this moment.

That night, on the doorstep of his house, Kei held Yamaguchi, clung to him tighter than he ever had before. That evening, they would close their old book, that story Kei had treasured for so long, and begin anew. The characters had grown, their childhood arcs wrapped up. In four years, they would toast to the Class of 2020, now a strange memory to recount at a class reunion. 

Goodbye to Yamaguchi never came. It wasn’t goodbye, after all. It was a confession and a kiss and a 'see you later' whispered upon lips.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading. It really means the world to me. If you want, I'd love to hear what you think in the comments. I love you all so much. Remember to wear masks, social distance, and if you're going to see someone, quarantine before and after to reduce the risk of spreading anything! <3


End file.
